The Home Depot's Kids Workshops offer useful projects including the creation of toolboxes, fire trucks and mail organizers, as well as more educational projects, such as a window birdhouse, bughouse or Declaration of Independence frame kit.

The workshops teach children do-it-yourself skills and tool safety, while at the same time helping to instill a sense of accomplishment. Additionally, this fun time allows for quality one-on-one time between adults and children.

In addition to the newly constructed project kit, each child receives a kid-sized orange apron, similar to The Home Depot associates' aprons, and an achievement pin.

Beall's Outlet clearance merchandise is marked with coloured dots that indicate the % off the ticketed outlet price. Near the end of each month, the dots move! For example, items that were marked 70% off will now be 95% off! Combined with a Monday or Friday Club sale and a completed frequent shopper card, this makes for some out of this world bargains!

We're not entirely sure how it happened, but the cashier said she couldn't accept one of the $1 coupons, because it would result in a negative balance. Stupefied - huh?! - we asked if she couldn't key it down to zero. She consulted the manager, who told her to just scan it in and give us the overage! We walked in the store with a list and a handful of coupons and walked out with a bagful of groceries and 19¢ in our pocket!

We did, eventually, figure out HOW it happened, but we're still not sure just WHY. And frankly, my dear, we couldn't give a hoot! We're doing the making money at the market mambo! ☺

The Duke made a last-minute run to CVS and Walgreens this afternoon and scored better than planned.

At Walgreens, he picked up one Re-nu contact solution ($7.49) and two Butterfingers (50¢ each) as fillers (coz he had 3 coupons). He used one $2 Re-nu coupon, two $2 RR's and an old Wags gc that had $1.69 left on it. Total OOP was $1.40 and he got a $7.50 RR. Plus, we get 15¢ back for every purchase using our bank's ATM card!

Next, at CVS... we decided to hold on to our ECB's till the new sale starts tomorrow. We started out with one CVS coupon for a free Dove bar or $2 off a larger amount and one free gift (choice of one 20-pk antibacterial wipes or shave cream ) coupon. The only other items on our list were 2 PowerBars @ 99¢, each of which gave us a 99¢ ECB. The Duke grabbed the shave cream ($1.49), 2 PowerBars ($1.98) and a Dove bar (89¢). The register took $2 off for the Dove and $1.79 for the shave cream, leaving a total of 57¢ and 10¢ tax. So, 67¢ OOP and we saved $3.79. AND we got $1.98 in ECB's. That, along with a $1 ECB for his 4th green bag tag* scan and the 15¢ ATM rebate, gives us a $2.46 profit!

Honestly, 6 months ago, we would have taken very little stock in the notion of saving money at CVS or Walgreens. But we're sitting here now with $46 in ECBs, a fistful of CVS coupons and a cupboard chock full of toiletries and paper products, most of which were dirt cheap if not free. The hardest part of the whole process is planning the best strategy to roll the ECB's/RR's. For beginners who might find that a challenge, just go back to our blog list (lower right) and you'll quickly find someone who has already posted some suggested scenarios. Go for it! Just think, once you're paying pennies on the dollar for all your toiletries, you'll have so much more in your budget for those pricey organics! 8-]

God bless your budget!

*'CVS/pharmacy will donate 5 cents to World Wildlife Fund for every Green Bag Tag™ sold between April 1, 2010 and March 31, 2011.'

Roll out the barrel and crack open your piggy bank for some bargains at Cracker Barrel Old Country Store's Porch Sale 25-27 June. They're moving the Clearance Corner out to the porch, where everything (except for the rockers) will be marked down... 'at least 70% off on overstocked and out-of-season favorites'.

We didn't see an end date for this special. It's always a good idea to shop early, as the good stuff goes fast! Kirkland's is our favourite home decor shop in this area. We always find lots of interesting ideas and really good prices.

Sign up for their newsletters and get great coupons fairly regularly. Most are for $10/$50 or $5/$25. The current coupon, good through 30 June, is 10/50 and says one coupon per customer per day, so you can print more than one.

Publix was out of Tony's pizzas the other day, so we made a quick stop this evening, last day of this week's sale. Using five $1/2 Simply Potatoes coupons, four $1/2 Tony's coupons, two Publix coupons for the berries, and one competitor's coupon, we scored 8 pizzas, 10 potatoes and 2 pints of blueberries for exactly... drum roll, please...

$1.00! Average cost per item: 5¢! If we'd been sure they'd accept the particular competitor's coupons we used, we'd have gotten four more Simply Potatoes and paid NOTHING! But we're definitely not complaining!

We've long since lost count of how many times we've been asked, 'Is it really worth it?', when discussing coupons. Well, of course it is! Today's Publix trip is a good example. We spent $8.18, plus the tax on the Kool-Aid, and saved $42.96! That's a little more than 84% off! Average cost per item was just a fraction over 48¢.

So, are you convinced now? Really, it doesn't take that much time to clip. And most of the legwork has already been done for you. Just google for couponing blogs and you'll find someone who has matched the weekly sales with available coupons. Or click one of the links in our blog roll. Click, snip, save!!!

Don't forget to skim through those Sunday circulars. On Stein Mart's (current) back page you'll find two coupons: one for 'an extra 20% off any one item' and one for 'an extra 20% off all Red Dot Clearance' both good through 20 June.

BlogFroggers

About Me

I'm a native-born Florida Cracker, graduated Christian home schooling mom/teacher, jill of all trades and mistress of none. Rising prices and dwindling assets pushed me over the edge from casual to extreme couponing. In the first quarter of 2010, we cut our grocery budget from $1600+/- to $300! I always thought all those 'coupon queen' stories weren't for average people like me. Was I ever wrong! Just jump in and start clipping. Check out some of the super savers in my blog list. Honestly, I know you've heard this before, but REALLY, if I can do it, ANYBODY can!